Cigarette Tobacco Injector with Endless Roller Belt

ABSTRACT

A machine for manually making cigarettes having a frame, a pair of generally parallel rollers rotatably mounted to the frame with at least one of the rollers also being slidably mounted so that it may be moved laterally toward the other roller, and an endless belt trained over the rollers.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments relate to conveniently handled and carried machines for manually forming loose tobacco into improved uniform size and tightness manually made cigarettes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Portable machines for manually making cigarettes that employ a belt running over a plurality of rollers are well known. The belt in these cigarette rollers has always been made of a rectangular sheet in which two corresponding shorter ends are attached by appropriate means to form a continuous belt. In these prior machines, the attachment of the sheet ends has always produced material protruding from the surface of the belt along the attachment area.

Although this protruding material interferes with the smooth operation of the device and ultimately with the uniformity, tightness and quality of the final cigarette product, it did not previously strike those of ordinary skill in the art that the problem could be overcome. The present inventor has overcome this problem by eliminating the protruding belt material to produce an “endless” belt, thereby insuring smooth and even operation of embodiments of the machine of the present invention.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a machine for manually making cigarettes having an endless belt operable over rollers carried by a portable frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to aid in understanding embodiments of the invention, it will now be described in connection with exemplary embodiments thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like numbers will be given to like feature and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a machine for manually making cigarettes constructed in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an endless belt employed in embodiments of the invention; and

FIGS. 3A-3E are a series of perspective views illustrating the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Turning now to the figures, a cigarette-making machine 10 having a substantially U-shaped frame 11 is shown, with generally parallel rollers 12 and 14 rotatably mounted to side portions 16 and 18 of the frame. Roller 12 includes a pair of pins 20 positioned along the axis of the roller and protruding from the opposite ends of the roller. These pins are rotatably mounted in bores 22 in side portions 16 and 18 of frame 11. Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, roller 12 may rotate in place and will not move along the frame side portions.

Roller 14, however, is mounted in slots 24 in frame side portions 16 and 18 by way of a pair of pins 26 located along the axis of roller 14 and protruding from the opposite ends of the roller which extend into slots 24.

Slots 24 include a bottom end 27, an angularly disposed transition portion 28 and an arcuate top end 30 which includes a hook portion 32. Pins 26 of roller 14 are mounted in slots 24 to permit the pins to both rotate within and slide along the slots. Thus, FIG. 1 illustrates machine 10 in an open configuration in which the pins of roller 14 are at the bottoms 27 of slots 24.

A uniform surface endless belt 40 is shown trained over and loosely mounted to rollers 12 and 14 in FIG. 1 to provide a tobacco-receiving area 42 between the rollers. Belt 40 is shown in perspective view in FIG. 2 in a configuration corresponding to its disposition as illustrated in FIG. 1, where rollers 12 and 14 would be present at A and B in this figure. As can be seen in this figure, the belt is “endless” because it is formed in one piece and there are no points of attachment between the ends of a rectangular sheet used to make the belt, as in the prior art. Belt 40 may be made of nylon or any other appropriate resin or other flexible material. Also, belt 40 may be smooth or it may have generally parallel, laterally extending ridges if desired. These ridges increase the friction between the user's finger pads and the belt when the machine is operated. In other embodiments the belt may have a roughened outer surface or it may be uniformly covered by small protuberances, also to increase the friction between the user's finger pads and the belt when the machine is operated.

Cigarette-making machine 10 may be operated as follows:

1. Open the machine as shown in FIG. 3A by moving roller 14 so that pins 26 rest in the bottom ends 27 of slots 24 and uniformly distribute loose tobacco 50 in tobacco receiving area 42.

2. Grasp frame 10 between forefingers and thumbs so that the thumbs are opposite roller 14 and push roller 14 upwardly as shown in FIG. 3A to move its pins along slot 24 and into slot hook portion 32 to close the rollers and band over the loose tobacco in tobacco receiving area 42.

3. Roll roller 14 forward preferably a full turn to help shape the loose tobacco into a uniform column, as shown in FIG. 3C.

4. Insert a cigarette paper 52 with a gummed edge 54 vertically into the pinch line 56 between the belt-covered rollers with the gummed edge at the top and facing forward and rotate roller 14 with the thumbs until the paper enters the tobacco receiving area as shown in FIGS. 3D and 3E.

5. After rolling the paper all the way into the machine, retract roller 14 back to its resting position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3A and remove the finished cigarette.

6. Cigarettes produced in this way will be superior to those obtained in prior machines because of the smooth, continuous rolling operation made possible by the embodiments of the present invention.

FEATURES IN THE FIGURES

-   10. cigarette-making machine -   11 U-shaped frame -   12 and 14 rollers -   16 and 18 side portions of frame -   20 pins protruding from roller -   22 bores in side portions 16 and 18 -   24 slots in frame side portions -   26 pins protruding from opposite ends of roller 14 -   27 bottom end of slots 24 -   28 angularly disposed transition portion of slots -   30 arcuate slots -   32 hook portion of slots -   40 endless belt -   42 tobacco-receiving area between rollers -   44 laterally extending ridges on endless belts -   52 cigarette paper -   54 gummed edge of cigarette paper -   56 pinch line between belt-covered rollers

All references, including publications, patent applications, and patents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicated to be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entirety herein.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing embodiments of the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. It should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are exemplary only, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention. 

What I claim is:
 1. A machine for manually making cigarettes comprising: a frame; a pair of generally parallel rollers rotatably mounted to the frame, with at least one of the rollers also being slidably mounted so that it may be moved laterally toward the other roller; and an endless belt trained over the rollers.
 2. The machine of claim 1 in which the belt is made of a resin material.
 3. The machine of claim 1 in which the belt is made of nylon.
 4. The machine of claim 1 in which the belt has a roughened surface.
 5. The machine of claim 1 in which the belt has a series of generally parallel, laterally extending ridges disposed across the belt.
 6. A method of manually making a finished cigarette comprising: providing a frame, a pair of generally parallel rollers rotatably mounted to the frame with at least one of the rollers also being slidably mounted so that it may be moved laterally toward the other roller, and an endless belt trained over the rollers; grasping the frames and sliding a first roller laterally away from the other roller to establish a tobacco-receiving area on the belt between the rollers; laterally moving the first roller toward the other roller to close the rollers and the band over loose tobacco in the tobacco receiving area; rolling the second roller to shape the loose tobacco into a uniform column; inserting a cigarette paper with a wetted, gummed edge vertically into the area between the belt between the rollers and rotating the second roller until the paper enters the tobacco receiving area; continuing rolling band to advance the paper and fully capture the tobacco so that the paper encircles the tobacco column; and retracting the first roller and removing a finished cigarette. 